March photos & #staystrongfriday

I almost didn't do this month's list - felt it almost too 'trite' in this world of the new normal.

But then, tonight at 8pm, I stood and clapped with my neighbours and family until my hands hurt, listened to shouts and whistles, watched flares and felt that although we are all individuals, we are all one.

So, in a spirit of defiance - a spirit of we will adapt, we will learn from our mistakes and we will blossom and find a better normal - one that is ..... less is more...... #staystrongfriday

All images are from the archives - enjoy xx

Birthday

March is Eldest's birthday, photo - March 2011

Jazzy

A kerchief - The age of Brass and Steam in self striping jazzy sock wool - June 2011

Flag

Yellow Flag Iris - Northumberland - July 2011

Three

A favourite lane in the Dales - photo June 2013

Cushion

Attic24's blooming flower cushion  - January 2012

My own choice

Taken today - Thursday.

On our one government sanctioned daily allowed walk

Stay safe xxxxxx

#staysafe #staystrongfriday #corvid19

My suggestion

In these strange and unsettling time please can I make a suggestion or two ....

Blog - still blog, may be your world has shrunk to the size of your garden, your flat, your bedroom. Blog - still blog, keep that life line, not just for you but for others. Even a small post on that silly thing your cat did/husband said/you saw on the internet will bring a spot of light to someone who is stuck at home. Stay in touch.

Create - if you can, create. Not for profit, but for you. Doodle, sketch, stitch, sew, knit, crochet.

Bake - nothing extravagant, something simple and have it with a mug of tea/coffee with the other castaways living with you. Warm scones (the BBC scone recipe is easy and quick) or easy biscuits are so comforting at a time like this.

Jigsaws - you know that pile of them you have stashed away? ... somewhere .... which you promised yourself to do? Seek them out, find them and find that simple pleasure of putting that final piece of the jigsaw in :D

Garden - if you have a garden - get out there - it is lovely here today. Potter on the patio, tinker on the balcony (none of these are euphemisms I hasten to add!!) Water the houseplants. Prune the bonsai, mist spray the climbing plants, sow seeds.

Talk. Ring that friend, message that work mate, text your cousin, send that email. Send it with love and support and you will get that love and support back.

Stay in touch xxxx

Monday

To plant a garden is to believe in hope.

Today I listened to lapwings overhead and curlews screaming in the fields. I clipped and trimmed overgrown hedges, winkled out little weeds hiding in the cobble stones and cut back dead winter foliage.

Despite the gloriously warm spring sunshine on my face, the puddles on the lane were still frozen.
A quiet calm swirled about me, giving me a sense of 'normality', giving me a breathing space. The owner of the garden and I stood a very respectable distance apart and peaceably discussed life.

We said our good byes.

I then worked in my own garden. Sowing seeds - a promise of new things. 

I listened to blackbirds and robins conversing from the tree tops, the jackdaws cawing and chattering as they flew overhead.
Fat sweet pea seeds were dropped into chocolate coloured home made compost, bamboo canes, freshly cut from a large clump in our garden turned into supports.
Crisp black and white almond shaped sunflower seeds pressed into soft potting soil in shallow trays.
Tiny peppercorn-like seeds dropped into drills - promising radish in three short weeks.

Little things, gentle things, positive things - so important, especially now.   Especially now.

Stay safe xxx

Stay Strong Friday

Sending you flowers - chin up, stay strong, stay connected 

(either by internet or the government recommended 2 metres apart).

Shop wisely, shop considerately - think of others and take care of yourself xxxx

Wishing you  a 'Stay-Strong Friday' and a precious weekend xx

#staystrongfriday

#corvid19

Today

Today...

Breathing.

Walking.

Gardening.

Cooking.

Vacuuming.

Family.

Cats.

Dog.

Art.

Normality.

This is my second attempt at waffling today - my first version ended up something a bit too confrontational regarding the utter madness which is happening at the moment and although I have read worse, heard worse spoken, said out loud a lot worse - I felt it would be unwise to publish what I'd written as it wouldn't help any one - so, all I will share were my final couple of sentences ...

I am not denying the illness - far from it. It is real it just feels so 'UNREAL'. This 'thing' affects   E..V..E..R..Y..O..N..E..... 

So, I am walking as lightly as possible on a tight line of disbelieve and incredulity as well denial and survival with a lot of head shaking.

And breathe.

Firsts

This weekend was a first, for us, of many wonderful things.

The first skylark aria filling the moorland with a glorious sound

The first lump of frogspawn nestling in the now naturalised mill pond

The first deliciously green hawthorn shoots

The first batch of lambs 

The first hares on our favourite 'hare lane' up on the moors

The first time noticing the curlews and lapwings paring up

 It made us all smile - especially when the sun came out.

Hope your weekend was as gently lovely as ours,

a perfect antidote to all that madness 

that seems to be

everywhere.

Blessings

xxxxx

My Five on Friday 13.02

A quiet list of gratitude, acknowledging that it is the little things that make a day all that better.

• Confirming my decision to live a simpler life - relinquishing things that drove me then wrung me out. That perfect realisation that yes, it was a correct choice and I am grateful for it.
• The NHS - at a time when it seems the world has gone mad, these people, however fallible and normal, step up and not away when someone ill needs them. 
• Lunch with friends - catching up with someone I'd not chatted with since October.
• That simple pleasure of talking, walking and drawing.
• Being on the hills with that dilly dog and Himself.

Have a lovely weekend xxxxxxx

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Sunshine, sketching and strolling

Last week, an artist friend and I spent a lovely several hours with a walking group as part of the Pendle Hill Project, a funded action project to bring people into contact with the landscape, re-training ancient skills, walking old boundaries, introducing the environment to newbies and reminding folk how to re-learn to love 'local'.

My friend invited me to go along with him as he had been a regular (only recently returning after a couple of major illnesses) as he knows I love history and walking. I took my camera (and sketch book of course!)

And joy of joys - the sun came too :) it was one of the nicest sunniest days we have had in aaaaaaages!

We walked with a couple of community rangers and a number of folk from a broad spectrum of life. The group soon spread out into smaller clusters, nattering and chatting as we followed an ancient boundary system with modern touches.

The village itself is full of wonderfully old buildings and has been used as a location for a television series. The houses are quite inspiring to sketch.

Both my arty friend and I spent a time drawing and taking photos for inspiration a bit later.

Although early in the season we were delighted to hear lapwings and curlews and their hauntingly evocative moorland cries. A sound that gives me such pleasure as it means that summer is on it's way.

Along the way we spotted some rather gloriously chubby toads - a bright yellow and deliciously russet brown one, which I gave a helping hand away from the road.

I could not resist a 'selfie'with my little buddy and we had a chuckle taking this photo.

Nearly five miles later, tired but rather happy, we shared cheese and pickle sandwiches and coffee - a rather good day out!  Did I mention the sun shone?? Well it did!

Things to be grateful for :)

Morning,

As I was sitting here typing, drinking coffee, doing correspondence, I was thinking on using today's post as a gentle reminder for this Friday's 'Five on Friday - Gratitude', when an email popped up asking if I was going to host it - so (yes dear Lovely Lady!) I shall get the proverbial skates on and invite you all to join in with a post on gratitude this Friday - 13th March.

If you are unsure what it is all about, we quietly share things that have make our days, our weeks - our lives that little better. It is a wonderful way to recognise and to be grateful for the small sparks in our day as an antidote to all the anger and ugliness we seem to be force-fed via the media, the news and the greater 'outersphere'.

In our own personal space there are things that make us smile - let us celebrate those :) so it could be a simple as that coffee with a friend, a walk alongside a stream and seeing that kingfisher, it could be a letter for a job, a pile of completed sewing/ironing/washing - it can be anything - so, fancy joining?

Good.

All you have to do is list your five things which have given you that added spark to your day, waffle a little on them if you wish and if you have a photo that is great, if not - it does not matter. This is all about being grateful and acknowledging that life is good especially when you start to notice those little things :) On Friday I will post a link up and you can add your URL - here is to a gently lovely week - enjoy x

Oh - you are not restricted to being bloggers, you can be facebookers, instagrammers and even twitterers - just add your link to your post on your chosen form of social media - it will be lovely to see you :)

#fiveonfriday-gratitude #gratitude #fiveonfriday

In which shadows appear.... who can remember those??

What a difference a day makes ... (tr lalala)

Day three

Dear Diary,
There is still this strange bright globe in the sky. It seems to traverse across in a huge arc - very confused to what it might be.

Occasionally our skies return to their normal state of grey and cloudy but they seem to weaken when this ... this large lump of gorgeously warm (unexpectedly) glowy thing appears.  I am confused.

It has some strange power over people - making them appear out on the hills and ... get this ... even makes them remove a coat or two (I may have succumbed to this outlandish behaviour - not sure what came over me) It must have been a full hour or so before I realised my foolishness and returned to my former multi-layered swaddled self...

One or two of us even had an added spring in our step - it felt rather delightfully strange and very moorish.

It appeared that this invigorating effect was felt on others too

Long may it last!

Happy Friday xxxxx

ps. coz I suspect one or two of you would like to see a little more of a 'Mossie Spring' - just for you ...

 Blep.

Those pink toes!

Treasures

A most delicious calm has fallen, a stillness so noticeable in it's silence.

The wind had dropped and the angry hurtling storm clouds are resting.

The weather is still wintery

but it is at ease.

 It feels as if everything, the trees, the fields, 

the hedgerows and rivers are all breathing a sigh of relief.

We walked down to the nature reserve and felt appreciative of the lull.

 The rivers, although still full have begun to return to their former relaxed burble.

The evidence of their tumultuous pace is littered along their banks.

Sandy banks have been replaced by rocky berms,

pebble beaches have been stripped clean. 

New mini islands mid stream have formed

and old ones complete with their foliage have vanished.

Along certain banks, where debris is caught,

new treasures have been revealed.

Our eyes honed on to tiny chips of blue,

intricate old patterns,

vintage logos.

We were delighted.

I have plans for these little trinkets.....